1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the technical field of unmanned aerial vehicles, also referred to by means of the acronym UAV.
More in particular, the present invention relates to a method for allowing missions of unmanned aerial vehicles in non-segregated air space.
2. Present State of the Art
It is known that unmanned aerial vehicles can be completely automated, by forcing them to follow a pre-programmed flight profile, or can be remotely controlled by an operator from a fixed or mobile station.
The first designs of unmanned aerial vehicles date back to the 20's, but only since the 90's, with the development of microtechnologies and nanotechnologies, it has been possible to test these vehicles for use in military missions, in order to avoid any risk for humans.
On the other hand, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for civil applications has recently found much interest due to the increased reliability and lower costs of such vehicles.
By exploiting the possibility of installing various type of on-board sensors, applications have been developed which range from environmental monitoring through video cameras, e.g. for monitoring territories after natural disasters or for monitoring critical infrastructures, to data collection from sensors distributed over the territory.
According to one of the main automatic operation paradigms of these vehicles, which is called “waypoint navigation”, there is the possibility of sending to the vehicle's control logic a sequence of GPS coordinates and times representative of a mission to be carried out. For example, the vehicle is sent geographic coordinates and times of permanence over a network of sensors to be interrogated, geographic coordinates of a series of points to be photographed, and so on. It is therefore a task of the vehicle's control logic to automatically pilot the vehicle itself in such a way that it will reach all the desired points (“waypoints”) and carry out the required functions.
The scope of use of unmanned aerial vehicles is still limited to segregated air spaces delimited by the operator's line of sight, so that the operator can intervene in real time should dangerous situations arise, e.g. potential collisions with other vehicles within the same air space.
This limitation of use is due to the lack of laws regulating the management of unmanned aerial vehicles for civil applications, in order to allow the latter to fly in non-segregated spaces and to be integrated into an existing air traffic management system.
As a matter of fact, the obligation to use an unmanned aerial vehicle in spaces comprised within the operator's line of sight causes the automatic functions of such vehicles, such as waypoint navigation, to become not very useful or completely useless, and compels the operator to control the vehicle manually.
Aiming at solving the problems that prevent using unmanned aerial vehicles in non-segregated air space, a number of techniques have been developed which utilize automatic “collision sense and avoidance” mechanisms, i.e. mechanisms designed for collision prevention, so as to enlarge the flight space for unmanned aerial vehicles and the number thereof within a given area.
All of the techniques introduced in the literature are subject to the strong limitation of being scarcely scalable in very high traffic areas because, as the number of vehicles within a given area increases, it will however be difficult for the vehicles themselves to make a decision that can avoid any possible collision.
“Collision prevention” methods have been developed which utilize a flight plan calculation service managed by an air space management and control body, with the objective of allowing more aerial vehicles to fly over the same areas without space or time overlapping, de facto reducing the intervention of the operator or of the “collision sense and avoidance” mechanisms to cases of vehicle malfunctions.
A few published patent documents are based on this consideration, such as, for example, Japanese patent application no. JP 2008-105591 and international patent application no. WO 2010/039306, according to which flight plans are managed by an air space management and control body, which decides the routes that each vehicle must follow in a given area and in a given time period, taking care of avoiding any collisions.
In particular, the system described in said Japanese patent application requires the existence of a body entrusted with the management and control of air spaces intended for UAV missions, which body, after receiving from a UAV operator the geographic and time data of the mission, will calculate the flight plan (e.g. waypoints and access times thereof) through an authentication server, also taking into account the UAV profile and the presence of any other UAVs already enabled to carry out missions within the same area. Once the flight plan has been calculated, it can be authenticated and sent to the UAV operator, who will be obliged to use it as a mission path.
However, the above-mentioned Japanese patent application does not employ a mechanism for authenticating the flight plan calculated by the management and control body and sent to the UAV operator, for the purpose of preventing said flight plan from being manipulated or corrupted, e.g. by third parties or by the operator himself.
In said Japanese patent application, reference is also made to the possibility of storing, in an apparatus installed on board the UAV, the data of the flight carried out, which data can then be sent to the authentication server after the flight.
However, in this case as well no mechanism is employed for protecting these data from possible manipulations by, for example, the operator himself.
De facto, this prevents verifying, in a reliable manner, that the operator has strictly followed the route calculated by and received from the entrusted management and control body. This could be useful, for example, to establish the responsibilities of a collision.